Page 19 of Chosen Beta

Pete’s bedroom is as eerily tidy as always.

It never looks like his bed has been slept in.

Shadow’s room is so chaotically messy that he and Pete could be buried under piles of clothes, and I’d never know until their bodies started to stink up the place.

I would have heard it if a murderer had invaded our house, so I don’t bother wading through the mess to check for bodies.

Ezra’s room looks like a shrine to a dead man.

It’s worse than Pete’s eerily tidy room, and Shadow’s grossly messy one.

Everything inside reminds me of him. It hurts that he isn’t here.

He should be. He promised he was taking a few months off.

It’s been “one last emergency” situation for who the hell knows how long anymore.

I close his door and head down the stairs.

There’s a half-filled coffee cup on the kitchen table.

Pete usually painstakingly cleans anything he’s used, but when Shadow’s right there, coercing him into something more fun, he’s quick to abandon his regular habits.

I see Shadow’s favorite sneakers are missing from the rack by the door, but I don’t find any clues about where they might have gone.

I try to remember if Shadow spoke about any fun stuff going on in town.

He usually mentions it if there’s something specific he’s interesting in going out to do.

I can’t think of anything, and when I head into the living room to check the morning’s security camera footage on my laptop, I come up empty.

They snuck out a fucking window so I wouldn’t know when they left.

I let out a frustrated growl as I pick up my headset and switch it on.

It syncs with my phone instantly, and I put a call through to Shadow.

Straight to voicemail. I hang up, and call Pete.

It rings out, never hitting his voicemail, just ringing on and on.

I start to feel like I want to smack my head off the wall.

How could I be so fucking dumb?

I should have seen this coming.

“Calm the fuck down,” I mutter as I hang up.

They’re together. They must be.

Pete would never let Shadow go out on his own.

He wouldn’t, and he didn’t finish his coffee this morning, so they’re definitely together.

I let out a breath, and force myself to take a few slow, deep breaths.

I’m feeling a little better, when my ass vibrates against the couch cushions.

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